So aside from being one of “the good, the bad and the ugly” radio bands ever cranked out by the FCC why doesn’t CB Radio get any recognition as a Part 15 service?
Sure it’s full of trouble makers, sound effects and foul language but there is a good side to this radio service. Some people including myself have managed to use this 2-way communication service for it’s intended use.
It is a great hobby if you can manage to steer clear of the negative side of things.
I recently got back into cb radio after installing my stock Cobra 19 into our Jeep Grand Cherokee for use on the highways and interstate as well as when we are off roading in 4WD in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
But i didn’t stop there, my wonderful wife bought a stock Cobra 2000 GTL on Ebay for me the other day as a gift for well, i am not really sure..i must have done something right lol
So probably tomorrow that will be here via FedEx and will take it’s rightful place on my desk right next to the computer monitor. I said stock for a reason. For nearly 18 years i had been in the hobby but with modified radio’s and probably maybe a linear or two.
I took a long 6 year break from the hobby.
CB Radio is already so noisy now i see no reason to add more to the band by adding a poorly filtered amplifier to the mix. This time i will not be tempting fate or the fcc visit and keep both the mobile radio and base station stock. Meaning 4 watts and no more than that.
My preferred mode of communications is SSB or single side band with the fcc approved 12 watts PEP (peak envelope power) and i plan on using a dipole antenna at ground level in the inverted v configuration. I am amazed that we found a CB Base station of this vintage that hasn’t been hacked into or modified in anway. It is all original and must have been taken care of because i have never seen a Cobra or any other cb radio in such great shape.
So really, why does cb radio get such a bad rap? I think it is like am or fm, it all depends on how you use it or abuse.
What are your thoughts?
Ready to Join
I absolutely join in loving CB radio as the highly useful communications tool it is.
I have a Uniden Pro510xl all ready to be installed at the work station right here, probably an attic antenna at first, then a chimney mount.
Nobody in the neighborhood seems to be on, but there is a major highway two blocks over and a buddy has CB in his pickup.
I will be monitoring in case some lonely soul calls for contact.
Cobra 2000 GTL
I hope this is okay to post here. Who knows Carl, skip might allow us to contact each other.
Roots in Radio…
In 1962 I got my first CB walkie talkie, Essex WT-303. My buddy also got one because after all, you can’t do much with only one.
In 1964 I got my first CB radio, a Lafayette HB-115A. Long gone, I recently bought one on Ebay. I also have a box full of old CB’s. My wife picked up a little Uniden at a garage sale for me, $5. Of course I had to put up an antenna; $69.
My Part 15 life began about the same time I got the walkie talkie and has been a life-long love.
Yes, CB got too hectic in the late 70’s. Too much noise, too much vulgar language and racial slurs. Then there were the threats of physical confrontation. Finally, I couldn’t communicate more than a couple blocks between base and mobile so I boxed ’em up.
It’s been within the last couple years that I started looking at them again. Quiet most of the time but, still you hear the language and racial slurs. Some things never go away.
I talk to everyone equally unless
that person is throwing slurs and vulgarities onto the air then i usually just change the channel and look for some one else to talk to. I go by 390. I used the Handle Maverick 390 for a long time but just shortened it to 390. Channel 28 was my home channel but this time i think i will probably park it on 38 LSB.
That’s a CB?
Obviously that cadilac Cobra model pictured above is a CB radio, but I have never seen such a deluxe model. It is like a church altar. I’m kneeling.
Just pray for the right conditions on 11 meters
Carl, i will be blessing the ground with salty water and chanting for the radio gods to offer me some great conditions on 11 meters. If anything else, i can at least look at the clock from across the room. Don’t let the size fool you though, much like the old DAK 9 and 10 base stations this radio also has more cabinet than it does hardware although i must admit if you have ever seen the inside of a DAK cb base station there was enough room for 5 more mobile radio’s in that cabinet. And it would give you a hernia just moving the darned thing around.
Really this radio has all the features of most Cobra and Uniden radio’s but they are just spread out across a bigger piece of real estate. From left to right the knobs are:
Dynamike (mic gain) , Volume, Squelch,RF Gain/SWR Calibrate,Tone,Clarifier / Coarse,Fine tune, Mode AM USB LSB. The buttons from the clock to the speaker on the right are alarm clock functions, noise blanker, automatic noise limiter,pa radio , speaker 1 speaker 2 and speaker 1&2. Why anyone would want two speakers on this rig is beyond me, it’s not capable of c-quam am stereo lol
The clock doubles as a frequency counter whcih is helpful when operating in SSB mode.
Very front of radio is the mic plug, power switch and aux plug for recording conversations i guess. This radio will also run from a 12 volt battery or solar using a standard cb three prong mobile power cord. If i remember correctly this is the same board found in the Cobra 148 GTL mobile cb which is another very nice snake radio.
100% CB Supporter
I am still and active 11 Meter guy. although the Airwaves seem a bit dead as far as the “Local scene” in my new location
But I still run on AM and SSB… heck, I even run audio on AM, because AM can sound SOOOOO good, even at 4.5kHz wide (to keep from bleeding into the next channel….
Good to see some support for 11 meters
You all are restoring my faith in mankind lol Good to hear we have some cb’rs on the forum.
At one point i was playing music for friends over the radio by using a device i built from a 6 volt transformer found in a junk poratble radio. The primary side of the transformer was the output to the mic plug on the transceiver while the secondary was used for the input along with a gain control , mic cord and plugs to go between the transceiver and the audio source. It did sound good and we had a lot of fun playing songs by request and on the fly.
Though i wouldn’t do this for a long time as this is really hard on the finals in the cb but still was fun as long as no one complained.
Gigantic CB net
That Cobra base station is absolutely gorgeous.
What a beautiful peice of gear!
I have some old CB equipment from the 1960s
and early 1970s that I will not part with.
My thing is equipment that doesn’t have 23
or 40 channels. I like old walkie talkes with
plug in crystals. It’s a complete nostalgia
thing for me. These radios mean just as much
to me as my old crystal sets.
I have some early Radio Shack units. I have 2
TRC-11 6 channel mobile units and a TRC-1B
walkie talkie. I also have an original Space
Patrol walkie talkie. I’ve been looking for
the Radio Shack TRC-22 walkie talkie for
years. (I’m looking for the second version –
if you have seen some of these old units,
you will know what I mean.)
SURE I would talk to somebody who knows
radio like we do. I would prefer to be on
SSB on the upper channels, but using
the really old walkie talkies would be great!
We should take some junk computers. We
should make an audio link on the internet
sort of like team-speak. Connect one old
CB radio to the computer. Make a vox or
something. Let it run 24 hours a day.
Use another old CB radio from your collection
to talk to the CB that is hooked to the computer.
What a kick that would be. We could all talk
to each other whenever we wanted!
You know – that would really be fun! Power
levels could be kept low. There would be
no interference unless you wanted to have it.
If I had a computer, I would be willing to try it right now!
We could get some of these old rigs on the air!
Bruce, DOGRADIO
P.S. I love ham radio very much – but this would
get these wonderful old CB radios going. My the way,
I don’t have a computer yet – however maybe one
of you tech guys could try it.
27 MHz Part 15.227
The network I mentioned above could
operate within the field strength limits
of Part 15.227. That’s for CB channels
1 – 23. It would be completely legal.
OK I’ll be quiet now.
We have so many other things we are
doing. But maybe someday.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Why does CB radio get such a bad rap?
Rock95Seven asked “So really, why does cb radio get such a bad rap?”
All of the above: Idiot users that abuse transmitter power, coarse and improper language and operating practice, nothing worthwhile to say, bad mic technique, bad matching between radio and antenna, badly built radios, and stupid toys like mic echo and astronaut “beep-tones”.
Let me add to that the public’s general impression that CB radio is a relic of its time: the whole “Good Buddy” thing and the need to speak in a hillbilly dialect when using it. And its heyday was nearly 40 years ago. Its become a cartoon of itself. And now that cellphones rule the roost, what’s the point of having a CB?
Dont get me wrong — I like CB also. Its what I did before Ham Radio got my attention. But like a softball field swarming with pooping Canadian Geese, the arena of CB radio is damaged by the morons who hang out and poop there.
-ALAN KJ4IVD, formerly KBAG-9812
The Low Life Style
Morons and geese need habitat like anyone else.
Geese happen to like softball fields and morons are attracted to CB.
Poop is to be expected.
In the case of geese, they make wonderful roasts and delectable drum-sticks and thighs, whereas morons… well, uh…
I know! Morons would be good to test softball fields in war zones to help detect land-mines.
Northern Accent
“Let me add to that the public’s general impression that CB radio is a relic of its time: the whole “Good Buddy” thing and the need to speak in a hillbilly dialect when using it. “
I am from Cleveland, Ohio and never felt the need to speak like a “hillbilly” on the c.b radio or any other form of 2 way communications. Sure there have been times i was mocking some idiot on the radio that was causing problems for good people but usually i just speak in my northern accent with a touch of south to it.
The touch of the South cannot be helped since i have lived in Kentucky for over 20 years but that doesn’t make me an idiot or slow or dim witted it is just that i have live here so long that the accent has been twisted un-intentionally over time.
By the way, in the 20 some years of living down here i have yet to meet a true hill billy.
My wife was born in Kentucky and has lived here all her life and even she makes fun of the uh hmm how can i put this gently? The local yocals. I think the common misconception that you have to speak like a hill billy on the cb radio stems from all those cb based movies in the 70’s lol Smokey and the Bandit, BJ and the Bear etc etc. And some folks feel the need to speak that way to fit in or to be accepted among the cb’er crowd, especially around truckers on channel 19.
I say be yourself, treat others the way you want to be treated and for god’s sake if it gets to be too much for you and gets to the point where you want to throw that radio out the window, just turn the darn thing off and do something else.
It’s just like Facebook, too much of it can drive you crazy. Everything in moderation.
Hell just have fun with it, have fun with life and you will be happier than if you were on anti-depressants and fine wine. Although wine can be enjoyable too. lol
Long live 11 meters y’all.
Additional comment
I don’t use echo or end of transmission tones (roger beeps)
Bill Up the Hill
I’ve learned that hillbillies are under-rated. Hillbillys know how to survive in the hills and live life off the grid. We could all learn a lot from them.
What I don’t understand is why so many preachers, both on and off the radio, find it necessary to speak like hillbillys. There’s a whole week at divinity school on “how to speak like a country-bumpkin.” I think it’s an attitude that one must “speak down” to people on a lower level. If so, that would be rude of those preachers. Polititians sometimes do it too, come to think of it.
I myself am a city-bumpkin and I try to “speak up” to people, because everyone knows things I do not know and I could learn from them.
But back to CB.
Someone said, “why use CB when we’ve got cell phones.” To that I say, “Aren’t cell phones expensive? Isn’t CB free?”
I rest my weather proof case.
Works When Others Don’t…
Then there is the case for independence. When calamity strikes, cell phone systems are overwhelmed.
I was at Cleveland Hopkins airport on 9/11 attending an expo. When we learned about what had happened, I tried to call home using a cell phone. Forget it! The cell system was more or less busied out for several hours.
Not to say I could have reached home with a CB, but other forms of two-way radio (ham repeaters) do the job just fine. CB radio has potential. Plenty of search and rescue operation were accomplished with CB radio.
But you are right about the poop…
Early CB Foe Me
At age 12 and several eye operations, all I was allowed to do
was radio. For about a year anyway.
All day – out in the front of the house on the sidewalk
with the Radio Shack TRC-22 100 mW walkie talkie.
Channel 11 (which came with the radio) and channel 14,
which worked with my Space Patrol walkie talkie. My
CB friend Mike at the top of the hill had 5 watts. I could
talk to him but almost nobody else. That was good enough.
Later, KBJK4953 from the FCC. With a 6 channel TRC-11,
mobile rig. Channels 5, 9, 14, 30, 35, and 40. (All crystals
from Radio Shack.) I had mentioned these 2 radios above.
There was and is a great feeling for those old pieces of gear.
I went on ham radio in 1971. CB got dropped for quite a
while. In about 1977 – 1978 I needed to talk to my “Best
buddy” in the neighborhood. He didn’t have a ham license (yet.)
We both had 6 channel CB radios, with channel 5 in common.
At some point my friend got his Advanced ham license and
First Class Radiotelephone at the same time. Then we got
on 2 meter FM.
But i had some great CB radios, still.
Somewhere in the late 60s or early 70s,
Radio Shack came out with an interesting
product combo. The ad said, “This is a Walkie,
This is a Talkie.”
They were 2 units. Both pocket sized.
One was a 100 mW transmitter for channel 11 and the
other was a receiver for the same channel. I took the
pocket sized receiver everywhere. Maybe some of you
remember those. Radio Shack didn’t sell them for very long.
At one point in my young life I didn’t have anything for CB
because I had taken apart and broken everything I had –
you know – just to see how they worked.
My friend at the top of the hill offered me a 300 mW one
channel General Electric walkie talkie. But one channel
wa OK because the radio allowed for plug-in crystals.
I told my dad the radio was 300 mW. He said I couldn’t
have it because I didn’t have a CB license. Bummer.
Meanwhile, about a mile away, we were starting our
first Part 15 AM station with a Lafayette 991077 phono
oscillator.
Wow.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
My first exposure to cb radio
Was one of those receive only one channel cb radios that go on the handle bars of a bike. Back then i was messing with cassette recorders and an AM Transmitter kit from a Heathkit my parents found at a yard sale. The book for that kit was dated 1955! It wasn’t until the 90’s when i installed a car stereo for someone and they paid me with a Courier Spartan PLL 40 Channel SSB. I talked on that radio for years before i bought a Galaxy 77 hml and then it snow balled from there.
Eventually i lost all that radio gear to a crooked storage building manager, now i am getting back into the business. Some time tomorrow the Cobra 2000 should be here via Fed Ex.
I have bought some antenna materials this evening and will start building a Sli-pole antenna for 11 meters.
Respecting Carl and Rock —
Respecting Carl and Rock — I’m with you guys. I likewise I am a respectful operator on CB, Ham and commercial broadcast bands. You may note I even put my original CB calls in my last sig. Unfortunately when the question boils down to, “What happened to CB?”, the answer doesn’t change.
I too do not use beeps or a Dixie dialect when modulating (I’m from New York, now living in DC, and its just not in my nature). But echo mics are available for sale everywhere and transceivers can be obtained with the beeptone built right in or as an aftermarket retrofit. When manufacturers themselves go out of their way to junk up the 11-meter band, how does that help us?
Besides the whole band being a technical wreck from illegally-overpowered and badly modulated radios, the screaming voice heard the most frequently, blowing everyone else off the dial and turning away otherwise welcome operators is always that guy who goes: “(whistle fweee-fweee) Hey y’all mammin’ on the mrim-mram (fweee) flackin’ the orgle from Fort Wayne ho-dee ho-dee dassright we gone! (fweee) (squelch).”
Add to that the continuing perception on the part of the public that there is some IC chip inside a CB radio that alters the users’ voice to sound Southern, and the notion that CB was “just a thing from the ’70s like disco”, and it becomes impossible to think anyone – other than a dedicated radiohead like those of us here – can find today’s citizens band appealing or attractive.
Lastly, I cant recall the last time I saw an expressway sign near me that said, “Highway Police Monitor CB Channel 9”. When even the authorities recognize there are more efficient and technically better ways to communicate with the public, that leaves just us.
I’m all for some means of making the band sound reasonably clean again, populated by conscientious and competent users. But ’til then, the public’s impression will go unchanged and unchallenged. They have other things on their mind.
How very sad…
I guess having 6 kids
teaches you a valuable lesson in weeding out the serious cries for attention from the i just want to be loud and hyper kind of racket.
I just filter it out and go on i guess. Well that Cobra showed up but it was in bad shape electronically. We let the seller know and they kindly refunded our money but left no instructions for sending the radio back. If they don’t want it back i may just put it on the list of things to be tinkered with.
It appears to be a power supply problem but then again, Fed Ex didn’t take care in protecting the the box the radio was shipped in, Heck i met the guy at the road in front of my house and when he opened the side doors on his van things were nearly falling out.
The box with the radio in it was leaning against the doors with things leaning against the box. Pitiful how bad things have gotten in regards to shipping.
Well i will be ordering another radio but this time a new never been opened Galaxy DX 2547 and with a warranty.
I don’t usually get burned from ebay purchases but at least this one time they made good on the deal in the end.
Shipping the Cobra back
Well it looks like the seller is paying to have the radio shipped back. Looking back, i should have had sent it off for repair and just kept it. Oh well. Live and learn.
A Better One Will Arrive
Keep watching rock95seven. A nice clean good condition Cobra will be posted at any time.
From a Cobra 2000 to just the opposite:
…A 3 transistor Radio Shack Space Patrol walkie talkie
from 1973 – is sometimes used in my communications shack.
I hook the whip antenna to the 60 foot long wire I have
up right now.
Because the Space Patrol has a regen receiver which is
very wide – it probably picks up 10 or 20 (or more) CB channels
all at once. It’s a great indicator to see if roughly 25 to 30 MHz
is open.
By the way, if all of you guys on CB were in my local area, I would
get a really good rig so I could be part of the group.
Bruce, DOGRADIO and KBJK4953 (issued in 1977)
Cobra 2000 GTL Replaced with
After sending back the Cobra 2000 GTL i contemplated buying another i saw on ebay but looked at other options. The Cobra 148 GTL F which is basically the 2000 GTL in a mobile version and the Cobra 148 GTL. The 148 GTL F has a frequency counter built in just like the base station version of the 2000 GTL, the 148 GTL does not contain a frequency counter.
I went with the Cobra 148 GTL for simplicity and one less thing to go haywire on me.
This radio is new and has a warranty so if anything goes wrong with it i can have it fixed.
So far it has been a great radio and i can’t wait to get the dipole up on the ridge behind the house.
I also want to apolagize for not posting as much as i used to.
Our internet service here in the mountains is less than reliable, in fact most of the time it isn’t even there. The cable company say’s they are trying to resolve the issue and so far i have not seen any change. Tonight is the first time in a week we have had speeds above the kilobite range. Our speed is supposed to be 6 Megabits download but as i said it has been in and out for several days on end. Hopefully they will get this resolved soon.
Cobra 148 GTL
Hi Barry
It’s good to hear from you.
I’m figuring you have the radio
on the air by now.(?)
I can’t get on the internet much either, my computer
is dying, actually. I have to get on from work,
when possible.
So I’m wondering what CB is like in your
area, and what kind of contacts you
are making.
I thought of a funny CB story from
my youth, but now I can’t remember it.
It will come back to me eventually and
I will then post it here.
I have to say, I love my CB “past,” from
about 1965 to 1969, and again from 1976
to about 1978. My CB radio collection reminds me
of those times. The radios are all from those years.
Best wishes,
Bruce, DOGRADIO
A Few More Goofy CB Stories Coming
Having been working on a vintage CB
walkie talkie from 1968 – as of late – I thought of
a few more CB stories from about 1966 to 1968.
I’ll be posting a few on this thread when
I can, hopefully soon.
The CB band is not a preferred
place for radio people now, in fact – for many
of us that who have even just listened there –
it is a sad and frustrating place. However, my road to
amateur radio came directly from CB, and
I have a few prized vintage CB rigs, as
several of us have on this board. Try as I
might – I can not part with some of these
radios. In fact – here at work – I have the vintage
1968 walkie talkie (mentioned above) in the tool
bag I take to work. It’s with me tonight because
it reminds me of some past fun days. Also, I love
the way the radio looks. No – it doesn’t do much –
but I think it looks great. Like many of my ham
radios, SWL radios, scanners, etc., it is a piece of
art.
So I wil have a few more things to say about CB.
Why such an emotional attachment? Well, I was
recovering from major surgery at age 12, and could
not go to junior high – or middle school – as they
call it now. About all I could do was stand in my
front yard all day long and listen to channel 11 and
14 on my Radio Shack TRC-22. Occasionally – a contact
would be made.
So a few more recollections will follow.
Bruce
Military CB – KQI-0012
When on the beach in Jamestown, RI
in 1967, (our vacation place then) I
could just about see the Navy base across
the water. It turned out, quite by accident –
I contacted KQI-0012. This was the callsign
for a CB set-up in the Navy base radio installation.
As you can see by the callsign, there were not many
military CB stations. KQI-0012 was the 12th callsign
to be issued, and my guess is that there were not too
many more.
As a kid who was crazy for radio – I called the Navy station
fairly often, and the operators on duty always politely called
me back. We talked about the day, and the weather, and radio.
My mother was impressed by this. She kept saying that I
was finally having a REAL CONVERSATION on “that awful thing.”
She said most of the time I was shouting into the 100mW 2 channel
beast saying. “Can you hear me – can you hear me!” And, “What did
you say? Repeat Repeat Repeat!” (And she was right.)
The 100 mW Radio Shack TRC-22 was finally doing something right.
Bruce, KBJK4953 (From 1977)
CB in Memory
As I remember, our local police monitored CB Channel 9 (emergency channel) for awhile.
How smart that would be if it continued into the present.
CB is not gone, as far as FCC rules are concerned, and so I think a resurgence should or could happen.
I’d spend more time there if I had more time.
KEEP CB as a public service! Don’t smash it!
There are highway people who use CB, and how neat is that?
Hi Carl! And – Old RadioShackCatalog Website Will Blow You Away
I can always count on you to respond,
and it is great that you do.
Well, I have still heard truckers on channel
19, and they make it work. I do have to
use my long wire antenna to hear them,
as the highway is pretty far away.
When I was searching for vintage walkie
Talkies I stumbled upon something called
RadioShackcatalog.com. If that doesn’t
work, just Google it.
On there are most of the Radio Shack Catalogs
from 1940 until 2004 (I think) when the last
printed version came out.
Like I said above – it will blow you away!
You can spend hours and hours there looking
at the Radio Shack gear you wanted when you
were a kid.
You can actually flip from page to page – it is so
amazing.
I’m going to recheck the URL.
Bruce
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com
seems to be the correct URL for –
again – all of those Radio Shack catalogs –
and zillions of pieces of old radio gear –
CB and other things. 1940 to about 2004
(and no catalogs during WW2.)
Radio Shack also sold ham gear for a
long time. A lot of it.
In my search for pictures of old CB gear on
the net – I have also come across a very
large directory of Lafayette products – which
stretches over many years.
I just can’t figure out how to get into the
Lafayette “list of gear” website.
Bruce
CB has it’s uses
CB is good for backup communication.
It’s generally easy to find a “local channel” that may span two or three counties (at least in my little part of the world).
If I break down my cell phone might not have coverage… but it is in those areas where CB is usually alive and well… and I can usually find someone willing to make a phone call for me.
That’s about all I use CB for anymore.
About once or twice a year I’ll turn one on and say hello to everybody.
Back when the TA7205 Audio Chip was commonly used in the circuitry, I would trade for the broken radios, replace the chip with it’s AP equivalent, and talk to the locals over it until someone wanted to trade for it.
That’s been somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 30 years ago.
New member, old CB’er
Just signed up, found this site by accident. It seems there are other CB people still around, although not very many in my area. I am in eastern PA about 30 miles from Philly.
I started with a 100mw Lafayette WT in 1969 when I was 12 while living in NJ. Could talk to guys with “real” radios a few blocks away. Less than a year later, had a Comstat 19 base with a cheap ground plane on the roof, I could talk to others in a 12 mile radius or so. Last set-up was a Comstat 25 with a PDL-II, and I could talk all over the US when conditions were good. Never had a “kicker” or anything illegal.
Fast forward to 2014. Got the itch back a few months ago when I came across a box of old radio junk while cleaning out my Mom’s basement. She still had my Avanti Sigma 5/8 in the attic of her garage, so I put it together and stuck it up on my garage roof. Only “working” radio I had was a Johnson Messenger 323, maybe half the channels work, I assume dead crystals. I now have a Galaxy DX-959 and a Lafayette Telsat SSB-140. Surprisingly there are almost NO LOCALS to talk to, and the ones that are around use lots of power and lots of foul language. Most people I talk to are skip contacts, I find that more fun than talking to the locals. Still no “kicker”, the Sigma 5/8 seems to be working!
Anyway, hope to log on here once in a while and hopefully converse with you guys.
73,
Swampy